Translated material
Release of "Energy"
Why is the head of the space industry changing?
First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov yesterday held a visiting meeting of the military-industrial commission dedicated to solid-fuel rockets, against the backdrop of a scandalous story with the early termination of powers of the head of the parent enterprise of the rocket and space industry.The story began with the fact that the head of the Russian Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC) Energia, Nikolai Sevastyanov, unexpectedly left the aerospace salon in Le Bourget . This happened last Wednesday. Together with the entire delegation, the president of the RKK left for Moscow. And last Friday, Mr. Sevastyanov’s powers as president and chief designer were suspended by the corporation’s board of directors.
The council consists of eleven members, six of whom represent the main shareholder - the state. Nine people voted for the suspension of Nikolai Sevastyanov’s powers. At the same time, the RKK board, on the contrary, expressed full confidence in its leader. The board's decision was signed by almost the entire management of the corporation, including 12 vice presidents. Nevertheless, the responsibilities of the corporation's president are currently assigned to the corporation's first vice-president, Alexander Strekalov. He manages the experimental mechanical engineering plant that is part of RSC Energia.
There are different versions of the reasons for the resignation of the head of the head enterprise of the space industry. Chairman of the RSC Board of Directors Nikolai Moiseev believes that the decision to suspend Mr. Sevastyanov’s powers was caused by the negative situation “that has developed in the relations of the RSC Energia management with federal departments, and primarily with Roscosmos.” Nikolai Sevastyanov’s agency was indeed criticized more than once, giving his actions a figurative and offensive name - “an attack of sleepwalking.” Criticism especially intensified with the publication of extremely bold projects for the industrial development of the Moon.
At the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sergei Korolev, Nikolai Sevastyanov publicly announced: the president of the country gave instructions to prepare a 30-year program for the development of Russian cosmonautics. And he added on his own behalf: “We are obliged to realize Korolev’s dreams of industrial space exploration, flights to the Moon and Mars. We have all the technological capabilities to fly around the Moon and land on it.” In contrast to the American hundreds of billions of dollars, he promised to keep it to $2 billion. They planned to carry lunar tourists already in 2008.
Not everyone in Roscosmos liked the “excessive” independence of the head of the RKK. According to Mr. Moiseev, Sevastyanov “allowed uncoordinated actions on a number of projects, including international ones and the manned program.” Witnesses say that Mr. Sevastyanov also behaved independently in Le Bourget, holding meetings with potential customers, for which he was “honored” of an impartial conversation with one of the leaders of Roscosmos. The head of RSC is also blamed for the fact that the corporation’s activity program presented by him is “unrealistic in terms of resources and capacity” and was not consistent with the program for the development of the Russian space industry until 2015.
In the conflict, formal signs are clearly visible, in the language of lawyers. The initiator of Nikolai Sevastyanov's resignation, Roscosmos, complains that there is no contract between the agency and the corporation; RKK claims that this is not true. At the same time, the results of RSC activities in 2005-2006 indicate that the company, under the leadership of Nikolai Sevastyanov, emerged from a pre-bankruptcy state and fully completed work on the federal space program and state defense order. There are signs of economic growth, and the corporation's financial position has improved. It turns out that at that time Roscosmos did not notice the absence of a contract. The agency's leadership in general, apparently, is not indifferent to the RKK. For example, last year Roscosmos reviewed applications received from enterprises for promising spacecraft, but none of the proposals, including those from corporations, met the requirements. However, it was the RKK that was “singled out”.
One of the most likely candidates for the post of head of the RSC was still considered the former head of Rosaviakosmos, Yuri Koptev. Today he heads the department of the military-industrial complex of the Ministry of Industry and Energy. The RKK says that it was at the instigation of officials of this department and, of course, Roscosmos that the government of the country initiated the issue of removing Mr. Sevastyanov from his post. There is a directive from the Cabinet of Ministers on this matter. The corporation's board is confident: the decision of the RKK board of directors violates Russian legislation, contradicts the corporation's charter and "will damage its business reputation and image not only in Russia, but also abroad." And this, in turn, can sharply limit the corporation’s ability to operate in the space services market and lead to serious losses. The board intends to ask the curator of the Russian military-industrial complex, Sergei Ivanov, to create an open non-departmental commission. And first of all, not to solve the “Sevastyanov problem”, but to consider the issue of the relationship between the management of Roscosmos and RSC Energia.
Apparently, the disagreements have indeed gone too far. As paradoxical as it may sound, the intensified struggle “for ownership of assets” and for power at defense industry enterprises also suggests that they have become much richer and have something to share. The corporation's board of directors speaks of Sevastyanov's resignation as a done deal and reassures shareholders: personnel changes will not affect the Russian space launch program, and the program to create a manned Clipper spacecraft will also continue (but probably in a slightly modified form).
Nikolai Sevastyanov promised to make a statement immediately after the meeting of the board of directors, but it never came out. Yesterday it became known about another candidate for the position of head of RSC Energia. This is the director of the St. Petersburg Central Research Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics (RTK) Vitaly Lopota. Moreover, the board of directors officially nominated him. By the way, Mr. Lopota was proposed by the former head of Energia, Yuri Semenov, but Roscosmos then settled on the young Nikolai Sevastyanov. Nikolai Zelenshchikov, vice-president of Energia, who has been working in the corporation for more than 20 years, could become the new general designer of RKK.
As it turns out, Roscosmos has been preparing the removal of Nikolai Sevastyanov for almost a year, coordinating the decision with shareholders. This spring, the last bastion - the government - fell, and Mikhail Fradkov's directive was issued on June 18, the first day of the start of work at Le Bourget. As in previous, not very good times, a person’s fate was decided during his absence. The issue of Nikolai Sevastyanov’s early resignation will be finally resolved at the meeting of shareholders of RSC Energia, which is scheduled for July 31.
RSC Energia was founded in 1946. Among its founders is Sergei Korolev. Energia developed the first artificial Earth satellite, automatic stations for flights to the Moon, Venus and Mars, manned spacecraft and orbital stations. It produces the Soyuz-TMA manned spacecraft, the Progress-M cargo spacecraft, and is responsible for the operation of the Russian segment of the ISS. By the way, on Monday, June 25, NASA sent a letter of gratitude to Roscosmos, in which the Americans highly appreciate the actions of Nikolai Sevastyanov and Energia specialists in eliminating the consequences of a malfunction in the station’s on-board computers. “Without their support, the ISS would cease to operate,” the letter says.
RKK today receives 90% of orders from Russia, of which 42% are from the state. The head office of the corporation is located in Korolev, Moscow Region. The main shareholders of RKK are the Russian government (38.22%), Investment Company Development LLC (17.25%), Kaskol group of companies (10%), Experimental Engineering Plant (3%)